Chapter twenty-three:

Thursday

It was the evening before Friday, the 21st of September. Yoomi stood at the front door of the S-class house with Jongdae, who was busy putting on his shoes. At that moment, a male student in Jongdae’s major— who he identified as an acquaintance of his that invited him out for a meal— arrived in front of their house. As Jongdae stood up with both of his shoes on and neatly tied, Yoomi handed him his jacket.

“Thanks, kitten. I’ll be back soon, and tell the guys not to miss me too much,” Jongdae joked, a good-natured grin appearing on his face as he waved her goodbye.

“See you soon! And take your time, oppa. We’ll be fine without you. And umm… have fun! Yeah… haha.” Jongdae turned to give the girl a questioning look but didn’t ponder on it, sending her one last wink before walking off with the other student.

As soon as the door closed, the girl heaved out a big sigh of relief. She wasn’t the best at lying or acting, for she usually wore her emotions on her sleeve. Even when she tried to sneak out at night when she still lived with her parents, she always got caught in the middle of the act.

“He’s gone, guys!” she hollered to nobody in particular even though she knew that all the boys could probably hear Jongdae’s retreating footsteps.

“Do you call that acting?” came a sneer from Sehun, followed by his signature eye roll— she swore he must have had that moved patented. “You might as well just tell him that we practically hired a random guy to get him out of the house for a few hours.”

“Yah!-” Yoomi started, about to retort back that he wasn’t so great at acting either.

“And why am I even a part of this?” the maknae continued, completely disregarding her voice, “all he ever does is annoy me and make me look bad. Why should I help with this stupid surprise birthday party?” he finished, crossing his arms grumpily.

“Because I said so. Now quit whining and go be useful,” came Yifan's stern voice, to which Sehun replied by huffing aggressively, still rooted to his spot on the couch.

When Sehun gave no sign of moving anytime soon, the strict leader had to resort to a tactic he hadn't used in a while but knew that it always worked on their youngest.

“One…”

The younger boy's eyes widened just a tiny bit but quickly steeled back to his usual poker face.

“Two… Don't make me get to three, Oh Sehun.” Yifan heaved a heavy sigh while still keeping his firm tone, letting the younger boy know that he was getting frustrated with his stubborn behavior and that there would be consequences if he didn’t listen.

“Thr-”

“Ugh, fine! This better be worth it,” the younger grumbled the latter part under his breath, hopping to his feet and slowly trudging past Yifan to go help the others set up in the dance studio where they decided to have the party at. Like the brat he was, he was clearly making a show of his reluctance, pouting and half-heartedly carrying out his assigned duties so that they all knew he wasn’t happy about it. He would even throw in a few more muttered complaints every now and then for good measure. Yifan just shook his head, wondering what they were going to do with their childish youngest, while Yoomi deadpanned with pursed lips, not impressed by Sehun’s attitude at all; he was seriously so bratty, it was unbelievable.

“You’re doing good, Yoomi.” Just to show the youngest what he was missing out on, Yifan gave Yoomi a compliment and even pat her on the head. “Since you’re being so helpful, I’ll give your dishwashing duty for the rest of this week to Sehun.”

Yoomi beamed up at their tall leader, excitement rising on her face. “Really?” She’d be more than happy to get rid of that particular chore. The boys ate a lot, so there were always a ton of dishes, not to mention the fact that Kyungsoo would scold anyone who didn’t clean them properly or tidy up the kitchen afterward so that it met his high standards. Not only would she be free from it though, but Sehun would be taking her place, meaning that she could sit back and enjoy listening to Kyungsoo rant at him all she wanted for the rest of the week. It was a win-win situation for her.

“Hyung!” Sehun, who had only been pissed off by the fact that Yifan went to compliment the girl right after scolding him at first, instantly turned bright red with anger when he heard of the reward he was giving her— and how it would also be his punishment. “You can’t do that! It’s not even my turn yet!”

Junmyeon, Luhan, and Minseok were all out getting more party decorations at the campus mini mall, leaving Yifan home alone with all the kids. Baekhyun, Yixing, and Tao were all dispersed somewhere in the house, probably looking for the things they needed. That left Kyungsoo, Jongin, Chanyeol, and Yoomi to listen to their leader and youngest argue back and forth. To the side, Jongin and Chanyeol could be heard snickering loudly, pleased with the younger’s misfortune, or rather punishment for his brattiness; however, they knew better than to in with teasing comments when Yifan hyung was scolding someone.

“You’re mean!” the boy continued his rant, face turning red. “Junmyeon hyung never does this to me.”

“Exactly why you have me to do it.” Yifan retorted, eyes hard and brows furrowed sharply.

Sehun was close to spilling tears at this point. Yoomi had come to know that the boy often cried when he felt something done to him was unfair. She could understand, but that doesn’t mean she was totally against his punishment either. “But-”

“Sehunnie,” a deep voice interjected. Yoomi turned to the source of the voice curiously, wondering what he was going to say. Maybe Sehun was about to get scolded some more. Weirdly, that thought made her a little excited. Does that make her a little bit of a sadist? But Sehun had been getting her in trouble way too often these days, so it was only right that he had his share of it, too.

Kyungsoo calmly walked over to the youngest boy, reaching out to hold onto the boy’s forearm and rubbing it gently. “I will help you with it. Now say sorry to Yifan hyung and come with me.”

Yoomi’s mouth slipped into a disappointed pout as Sehun gratefully accepted the older boy’s help and followed his words without a single complaint. She knew that some of the boys liked to spoil him as the youngest, and that was why he threw so many fits in the first place, but she had never expected the strict tsundere Kyungsoo to be the one out of them all to give in the fastest and spoil him the most, yet that was exactly what she had come to discover was the case in her time living with them. Wait— did that mean the brat wouldn’t get yelled at for improperly cleaning dishes either? There goes all the fun out of the reward Yifan had given her, she thought with a small sigh.

“Back to work,” Yifan reminds the others of their time limit once Sehun was calmed and had left the room to help Kyungsoo set up instead.

***

Friday

“Soooo…” Jongdae started, dragging the word out and waiting for everyone’s focus to land on him. He had happily bounded down the stairs this morning with an extra spring in his step and a smile he just couldn’t seem to force off his face. Clearly the date had put him in a good mood. “Does anyone have anything for me or anything to say to me?”

They were all in the middle of breakfast in the dorm cafeteria on a Friday morning, either having small talk with the person beside them or solely focused on their food. Silence ensued as everyone around the table thought— or at least pretended to— for a minute, before shaking their heads or saying “no”.

“What do you mean ‘no’? There HAS to be something you all wanna say to me today.” Jongdae insisted, smile now sliding off his face. He looked outright offended, but he quickly masked that with another hopeful gaze as he turned to their leader, knowing that he was the most responsible and would never forget an important date like this one.

“Junmyeon hyung, do you have anything?”

“I cannot think of anything, Jongdae-ah.”

“Yoomi? My kitten?” he begged.

“Hmm...nope!” she thought hard before replying, not forgetting to pop the ‘p’ playfully before focusing back on her cereal.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Jongdae insisted as he looked deeply into the girl’s eyes. Yoomi knew instantly what he was trying to do; he was trying to get into her head to figure out if she knew anything. But luckily for her, her telepathy lessons with Minseok had been paying off and she was now much better at blocking visitors out of her mind. She found it to be much easier than forcefully trying to read someone else’s thoughts.

“No fair! When did you learn to block off your mind?” Jongdae grumbled, a whine etched into his voice. “I liked it a lot more when your thoughts were loud and clear.”

“Why do you keep on insisting we have something to say to you when all of us clearly don’t?” Jongin asked nonchalantly — though his main intention was to change the subject so that Jongdae wouldn’t catch onto anything —, busy slurping loudly on his bowl of seaweed soup. “If anything, it sounds like you’re the one that wants to tell us something.”

“Wow, I’m astonished,” Jongdae replied dryly, clearly anything but astonished. The deadpanned look on his face was actually a little soul crushing. “You dare ask me that while eating seaweed soup?”

“Well, why don’t you just tell us what you want then, hyung?” Jongin pressed, wanting to see whether the older would actually say it. It wasn’t often that they all got the chance to get back at the little troll and see him squirm instead of messing with them, so he was going to milk the moment.

“That’s…” Jongdae trailed off in his speech suddenly, his pride unabling him from admitting out loud that he wanted birthday wishes. It suddenly sounded incredibly childish now that he was almost forced to say it out loud.

“That’s enough, you two,” Yifan scolded, stopping the bickering before it could really begin for a number of reasons. Their grand birthday surprise plan would be busted if the younger boys took their teasing too far, not to mention the fact that it would upset Jongdae. The last thing they needed was for his overdramatic side to come out and whine about the unfairness of it all or cause a scene because he was embarrassed or upset.

“Anyways,” Jinwoo quickly changed the subject, catching on to what the older boy was trying to do— always the smart, sensible Jinwoo. “Yoomi-ah, you should really look forward to the 4th years’ battles today!”

“Especially your mates’ battles,” Sumin added, a knowing smirk on her face as she playfully nudged Yoomi in the side with her elbow.

“Ooh, you can definitely look forward to Luhan hyung’s battle, Mimi! He really knows how to express himself on the field,” Baekhyun cackled before Chanyeol who was sitting beside him joined in and then they both turned into a cackling mess like a bunch of idiots.

Beside them, Minseok shook his head disappointedly at the two’s behavior. “How embarrassing.”

“I have to admit, it is kind of funny,” Tao agreed, caught between looking upset with himself for agreeing with his childish hyungs and amused at whatever they were all hinting at. Sehun seconded his opinion with a small smirk and a sound that was half scoff and half laugh.

“Luhan hyung’s fights are the best,” he stated, earning a glare from the mentioned boy, although it was far weaker than his usual ones. Now, rather the softer glare was from embarrassment at everyone picking on him, or because it was directed at the maknae who the older ones liked to baby, it was anyone’s guess.

“Anyone want to explain to me?” Yoomi questioned, not getting their inside joke. Her natural burning curiosity was acting up again and pretty much demanding that she figure it out. Even Sumin and Jinwoo were laughing in their seats! Sumin had a hand clutching her stomach and the other slapping Jinwoo on the arm. Whatever it was, it must have been an entertaining sight indeed to witness one of Luhan’s fights.

“Kyungsoo oppa? You’ll tell me, right?” Yoomi asked. Kyungsoo was the most honest one of them all and he usually liked blurting out whatever he was thinking, so surely it wouldn’t be too hard for him to tell Yoomi what this was all about, would it.

“I don’t really care,” came his offhanded reply, a bored look present on his face.

“Oh, you’re in for a surprise, kitten.” Chanyeol told her, still not revealing what it was.

“No, I wanna know now. Tell me, please!” Yoomi begged, pouting. She turned to her mates, sure that